You also have the energy, strength, and wherewithal to travel on a shoestring budget.  You can explore new areas of the country and the world.  You can still crash on people's floors and couches and get by on salami and crackers if you want.  You can fly to Boston to see friends or spend the weekend at someone's lake house on a moment's notice.  You may like the idea of a four-star resort, but you're still willing to stay in a one- or two-star hotel if it means getting to see new sights or visit a new city.  You can take advantage of travel opportunities through work or a fellowship opportunity to study or work abroad.

Ellen, a 29-year-old graduate of the University of North Carolina, has traveled to Spain, Germany, and Switzerland and backpacked at Glacier National Park.  She has tried paragliding, metalwork, snowboarding, road biking, and rock climbing.  Reflecting, Ellen says, "I think one of the most important things to me in my twenties has been experimentation with life.  I have moved several times, traveled, loved and lost, read incredible life-shaping literature, tried new sports and arts, and, most important, made wonderful female friends.  I would recommend the same to anyone else, especially to women in their twenties.  Try it out.  Figure out your strengths and weaknesses.  Take time to determine what is the correct path for you instead of accepting the path that others lay out for you."

You can discover new cities, towns, people, and schools.  You can refine your skills and giftings as you embrace life.  You can also test new ideas.  You can come to terms with what you believe to be true and take time to study and have ready answers to questions about what you believe.  You've been raised with a certain set of values, and in your twenties, you can evaluate whether to make those beliefs your own or make adjustments.  You can grow into your own skin with an understanding of your personal beliefs and faith.

3. Time to Learn

Contrary to what some commencement speakers might tell you, the learning process doesn't end with graduation.  In fact, it's just getting started.  Through all the trials and tribulations, successes and failures, you are learning something new every day.  You are learning about yourself, the world around you, and how to thrive in it.  Depending on the choices you make, you can either slowly ease your way into the mire of adult responsibility or throw caution to the wind and jump in with both feet.

Your twenties are a great time to try to put your ideals into practice.  You can test them and find out which actually work and which really don't.  You can make life choices and develop life patterns.  You have more wisdom based on your experience than you did in school, but you haven't lost the desire to try new things for yourself.  You can find your passions and find yourself as you discover new things.